County insurance rates may rise again
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It would mean a Warren County employee’s insurance premium would increase from $100 to $170 per month for the single plan, and from $510 to $682 per month for the family plan, as of Jan. 1, 2003.
Meanwhile, McMinnville city employees pay approximately $17 per month for the single plan and $98 for the family plan – for the same coverage. It creates a significant disparity in employee benefits between the two local governments and a situation that has reportedly resulted in county employees moving to jobs in city government when they become available.
The reason for the difference is the city pays a much larger portion of the insurance premiums for their employees than does the county, and reportedly has budgeted to absorb the state increase for the coming year.
As a result, when Warren County government officials began framing a budget for the coming fiscal year, concerns about benefits, and the potential effect on employee turnover rates, became one of the principal topics.
“If our county is to do well in anything,” said Budget and Finance Committee Chairman Swanson Bennett, “we must have the best employees we can have and be able to keep them, and the only way to keep them is to treat them like they ought to be treated, certainly on a competitive basis.”
Last week, committee members discussed a memo to commissioners from Assistant Director of Accounts Melanie Lanier. The memo listed the estimated rate increases for 2003.
Those figures indicated a 25 percent increase in the county’s health insurance premiums for the Preferred Plan (PPO) and an increase of 30 percent in the Point of Service Plan (POS), which is similar to an HMO and marginally less expensive than the PPO plan.
Many local government and state offices which contribute to employee insurance cover a portion of these increases, but currently Warren County pays a flat rate of $175 a month per worker, leaving the burden of the entire increase on the individual employee.
According to Lanier, 130 workers are presently enrolled in the county’s insurance plan, which is underwritten by Blue Cross. This is less than half of the county’s approximately 300 employees. Of those 130, only 10 are enrolled in the family plan.
Several options were discussed to try and lessen the impact of the rate increases. One option was to increase the county’s share of the insurance by $100 per month, which, on the single plan, would drop the employee’s contribution to $68 per month. This would cost the county an extra $156,000 per year. It would, however, put the county’s employees on a more even keel with city workers.
But this solution has a potential drawback according to Lanier.
“If you increase what the county pays by a certain amount, which I think $100 would probably do it, you have to once again open the county up to open enrollment, and that would mean everybody who was full time would be eligible to sign up on the county coverage,” Lanier said.
If every employee did opt to sign up at the improved rates, it could conceivably increase the county’s cost to an extra $429,000 per year. An alternate solution would be for the county to increase its share by $50 per month, which would probably fall under the percentage that would require opening up enrollment. This would cost the county around $78,000 per year, and would come close to covering the increase.
Also discussed was a plan for the county to become self-insured by creating a pool with local businesses and providing insurance to local employees in both private and government sectors.
County Executive Carol Hamblen, who has already looked into this option, pointed out that this type of plan requires different methods and implementation, including wellness programs, variable premiums and emphasis on preventive medicine.
But other communities in the area have successfully implemented this type of plan, according to Hamblen. She noted one local law-enforcement employee had taken a job in Manchester for the essentially the same salary but paid only $30 per month for his family insurance there.
“At that time he was paying $474 a month here, and that was his house payment,” Hamblen said.
Local officials agree reducing the cost of insurance is a high priority for county employees.
“It’s the thing I hear them talk about most,” said Sheriff Jackie Matheny, who noted that the sheriff’s department had lost a deputy to the city police force due to the difference in the cost of insurance. “Anything you could do for them there would be really appreciated.”
County officials recognize that whatever method they choose, it is likely to be an expensive one for taxpayers.